Employee Tenure Summary

Technical information:    (202) 691-6378        USDL 06-1563
                 http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                                For release:  10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact:                  691-5902        Friday, September 8, 2006


                          EMPLOYEE TENURE IN 2006


   The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with
their current employer was 4.0 years in January 2006, unchanged from Janu-
ary 2004, according to the data released today by the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

   Information on employee tenure has been obtained from supplemental ques-
tions in the Current Population Survey (CPS) every 2 years since 1996.  The
CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that provides information
on the labor force status, demographics, and other characteristics of the
civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over.  The questions about
employee tenure measure how long workers had been with their current employer
at the time they were surveyed.  A number of factors can affect the median
tenure of the workforce, including changes in the age profile among workers
as well as changes in the number of hires and separations.  (See the Techni-
cal Note.)

Demographic Characteristics

   In January 2006, median tenure for men was 4.1 years, little different
than that of women (3.9 years).  From 1996 to 2002, the median tenure for
men was about 0.5 year higher than for women.  (See table 1.)

   Older workers tend to have more years of tenure than their younger coun-
terparts.  For example, median tenure (the point at which half of all workers
had more tenure and half had less tenure) for employees ages 55 to 64 was
9.3 years in January 2006, about three times the tenure for workers ages 25
to 34 (2.9 years). 

   As would be expected, a larger percentage of older workers than younger
workers had 10 or more years of tenure.  For example, among wage and salary
workers ages 55 to 59, about half were employed for 10 years or more with
their current employer.  Among workers ages 30 to 34, about 11 percent have
10 or more years of tenure; for workers ages 25 to 29, the proportion was
about 2 percent.  (See table 2.)                                         

   The proportion of all wage and salary workers age 16 and over with at
least 10 years of tenure with their current employer, at 26 percent in
January 2006, was little changed from January 2004.  Among men, 27 percent
had at least 10 years of tenure with their current employer in January 2006
compared with 25 percent among women.  (See table 3.)

                                  - 2 -

   In January 2006, 16 percent of Hispanic wage and salary workers (age 16
years and over) had been with their current employer for 10 or more years
compared with 26 percent of white, 23 percent of black, and 21 percent of
Asian workers.  The shorter tenure among Hispanics can be explained, in
part, by their relative youth.  Nearly 50 percent of Hispanic workers age
16 and over were between the ages of 16 and 34.  By contrast, fewer than
40 percent of whites, blacks, and Asians were 16 to 34 years old.  (See
table 3.)

   About 24 percent of wage and salary workers age 16 and over had 12 months
or less of tenure with their current employer in January 2006.  These short-
tenured workers include new entrants and reentrants to the labor force, job
losers who found new jobs during the previous year, and workers who had vol-
untarily changed employers during the previous year.  As would be expected,
younger workers are more likely than older workers to have short tenure.  For
example, among 20- to 24-year-olds, about half had a year or less of tenure
with their current employer.  (See table 3.)

Industry

   In January 2006, wage and salary workers in the public sector had almost
double the median tenure of private sector employees, 6.9 versus 3.6 years.
One factor behind this difference is age.  About 75 percent of government
workers were age 35 and over compared with about 60 percent of private wage
and salary workers.  Federal employees had a higher median tenure (9.9 years)
than state (6.3 years) or local government (6.6 years) employees.  (See
table 5.)

   Within the private sector, workers in manufacturing had the highest tenure
among major industries, at 5.5 years in January 2006.  By comparison, workers
in leisure and hospitality had the lowest median tenure (1.9 years).  These
differences in tenure reflect many factors, one of which is varying age dis-
tributions across industries; workers in manufacturing tend to be older on
average than those in leisure and hospitality.

Occupation

   Among the major occupations, workers in management, professional, and re-
lated occupations had the highest median tenure (5.2 years) in January 2006.
Within this group, employees with jobs in architecture and engineering occu-
pations (6.5 years) and management occupations (6.0 years) had the longest
tenure.  Workers in service occupations, who are generally younger than per-
sons employed in management, professional, and related occupations, had the
lowest median tenure (2.8 years).  Among employees working in service occu-
pations, food service workers had the lowest median tenure, at 1.8 years.
(See table 6.)

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Last Modified Date: September 08, 2006